- What are the major differences or similarities between the ethos of the creation story you are familiar with and the story King tells in The Truth About Stories ?
As the daughter of a Presbyterian Church secretary, I grew up surrounded by Christianity. With this background in mind it is no surprise that the creation story that I am familiar with is the Christian one. I was taken aback while reading Thomas King’s The Truth About Stories as I did not expect the creation story that I grew up with to be as similar to King’s.
The stories start somewhat differently, as in the Christian creation story the entire Universe is created from light onwards. As a final touch on this Universe he created man and woman.
Thomas King’s creation story, however, starts somewhat in the middle in comparison. The earth exists, although it is only water and animals at the beginning, and instead of focusing on it the attention in the story is placed on a woman, her curiosity, and the choices she makes.
There are differences, of course, but each story is driven by the same force, curiosity.
It is curiosity, (or manipulation, depending on your own conclusions), that drew the first woman, Eve, to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, despite being told not to by God. That same curiosity drove the woman in King’s story, Charm, to ignore the warning of another creature and instead dig her way through her own world. Curiosity led each of these women into a new direction. Eve was thrown out of the Garden of Eden, the first man, Adam, by her side. Charm fell down from her own world to the watery earth below, with only animals for company, at least at first.
Despite the similar actions of these women, there was a great difference that I found within these stories, that of shame and negativity.
Eve is ashamed after her curiosity leads her to taste the forbidden fruit. She and Adam are expelled from the Garden, and trek around the Earth. They are now aware of good and evil and struggle through their lives, at times being happy, others sad.
Charm, on the other hand, appears to thrive on her new world. She befriends the animals and they assist her in creating a space for herself and her children to live. Her children, twins, change the world to be to their own liking, and the story finishes with it being declared as beautiful.
The Christian creation story that I grew up with places the focus on the mistake that Eve made, and opens up discussions on temptation, sin, and the loss of paradise. Eve has a lot of blame placed on her in the story, as discussed within this article I came across.
Thomas King’s story focuses on the duality of life, shown through the light and dark twins that Charm has. One is not good and the other evil, it is just not that simple.
English Standard Version. The Holy Bible. Illinois: Crossway Bibles, 2007. Print.
Gillhouse, Elizabeth. ““Eve was Framed”: Ideostory and (Mis)Representation in Judeo-Christian Creation Stories.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 36.3 (2011): 259-275. Web. 7 Mar. 2015. http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/v036/36.3.gillhouse.html
King, Thomas. The Truth about Stories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003. Print.
Hi Christie,
I found your analysis interesting. I contemplated answering this question, but chose not to as I am familiar with many creation stories and would have had trouble deciding which to focus on. Evolution? The Big Bang? The Garden of Eden? Genesis 1? Noah’s Ark? Glooscap? The versions of the Earth Diver story I have previously heard? Or “we’ve always been here”? I find the assumption (in the question) that each of us is only familiar with one creation story quite interesting, as I don’t believe that to be possible. As such, I found your choice of the “Christian creation story” interesting as there seem to be many Christian creation stories. I’m not overly familiar with the Bible, but the contradictions between Genesis 1 and the Garden of Eden story are striking. In one, God creates man and woman both; in the other, first man, then woman.
I found the parallel you drew between the two curious women quite interesting. Depending on your reading, you could argue that Eve was not curious, just ill-informed (God never told her not to eat the fruit; it is assumed that Adam passed on the message, but that is never stated). As for Sky Woman, the specifics of her fall vary quite a bit from story to story. I wonder if the curiosity in King’s telling was influenced by Christian stories.
I think you raise very valid points about the differences between the fall from grace in Christianity and balance in the Earth Diver story. A striking (and shocking!) line I just came across in Genesis 1 says “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1.26, emphasis mine). In the Earth Diver story, on the other hand, Sky Woman depends on the animals to save her from her fall, provide her with a home, and look after her. She is not superior to them, but part of the community. This line in Genesis really struck me as it sets up Christian dominion over animals (and non-Christians), land, and water. I think that much of the debate over land use and industrial projects in Canada today can be explained through these two creation stories. Genesis gives humans dominion over all else in creation, whereas the Earth Diver story places humans amongst creation, as part of the world. Whereas native mythology is very aware of humans’ dependence on animals, animals’ dependence on plants, and plants’ dependence on water, Christianity seems to have the order all mixed up (as portrayed in the story of Cain and Abel). I’ve never been able to understand how God could favour Abel’s offering over Cain’s, given that Cain’s offering is needed to feed Abel’s offering. Does the logic of the story make sense to you? I blame the tyrannical, illogical father, God, for the murder, but perhaps you can shed some light? How is raising plants to feed the animals not a task worthy of praise?
I look forward to hearing your insights and hope I haven’t said anything to offend you! I’m quite interested in this, but know little. Any insight you have would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Heather
Works Cited:
New International Version. BibleGateway.com. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.
Hi Heather!
Thanks for your awesome comment, really got me thinking!
You hit the nail on the head with your observation of Adam and Eve being superior to the animals as opposed to Charm, who seemed to be more willing to work with them. That’s exactly the tone that I was trying to explain! 🙂
As for your Cain and Abel question, I always took it as God not only showing favor and accepting one offering over the other, but the men as well. From what I was taught of the story it was not only the offering that was judged, but the heart of each.
I’m with you on the blame, though! A bad case of sibling rivalry can be put to rights through parental intervention, but that just didn’t happen in this case. 🙁
– Christie
Thanks for your insight, Christie! I’ll have to reread the story at some time and see if I can pick up on that. It takes a lot of work to raise a field of crops, but perhaps Cain’s heart wasn’t in the right place, despite all the work. I do feel that God, the father, could have handled the situation better, but perhaps he’s not as much to blame as I’ve previously thought. Thanks for giving me something to think about!